Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!bunker!hcap!hnews!119!5.0!Laurie.Wilson
From: Laurie.Wilson@p0.f5.n119.z1.fidonet.org (Laurie Wilson)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: deaf folks speak
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Date: 2 Mar 90 05:20:18 GMT
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 > I'll give you a longer answer later, but I wanted to comment
 > on the ease of learning sign language. I see sign language
 > as harder for most hearing folks to learn simply because
 > it is very different from learning another spoken language.
 
Okay, I'll grant you that sign language is harder to learn than any 
other spoken language is.  If I recall correctly, my point was that 
most hearing people who was taking sign language course "had mistakenly 
assumed" that learning to sign would be easier than other foriegn 
language.  Remember that ASL is now accepted as a foriegn language 
for college credit requirement.  And then after awhile "they" would 
get discouraged upon a such difficult task of learning ASL.
 
 > and lots of people don't have the experience with languages
 > I do. I operate at a disadvantage because there are virtually
 > no books "written" in sign, and the primary way I study
 > a foreign language is to read with a dictionary. All other
 
Yes that is so true.  Now, I think of it and I see what you are saying. 
Most other foriegn language do have dictionaries, and ASL only have 
pictures of signs.
 
 > methods require a lot more money, or contact with a warm
 > body who knows the language. Both are much harder for
 > me to come by than books. Consequently, my knowledge of
 > sign is still very limited.
 
*sigh*  I know... how hard it is to keep practicing with ASL, especially 

all by yourself.  And kinda boring, too.  I think all of us have those 
problems those days too.  You know, I hadn't sign for 13 years, so 
I sort of forgot most of the sign language.  And when I had to relearn 
all over again, like you I came across some similar difficulty.  However, 
I am lucky the last one year, for I have a Deaf roommate.  Thus, I 
have her now to practice signing.
 
Laurie

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